Kamael for @brightxyes-art

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The Language Of Flowers

How to draw Afro textured 4c hair - an explanation/Tutorial

For those of you that don’t know what 4c hair is, 4c hair is a hair texture type that contains coils to small and tight that the hair appears to be more puffy rather than curly ( like to photo below ) this is in NO WAY to be confused with curly hair. there is a drastic difference.

As a black artist that primarily draws characters with 4c hair, I’ve been asked many times to do a tutorial on 4c hair so here we go~

before we get into 4c hair, lets take a moment to fully understand it by talking about hair texture in a general sense first

let’s take a look at this example of straight hair vs curly hair ( 1 type straight hair vs 3 type curly hair )

If you take a moment to compare the two you’ll notice straight hair is flat, it has no texture. Straight hair perfectly hangs down similar to liquid-like silk. It’s lack of curl pattern is the reason as to why it hangs perfectly flat.

curly hair on the other hand doesn’t lie down flat and silky like straight hair, It’s more thick. Curly hair in it’s raw and unstyled state has a trapezoid like shape this is because the sides of the hair spread more outward.

So why is this? Why is straight hair flat and curly hair thick?

the answer to that question is a thing called piling up. When it comes to hair texture, the shape of the hair strands aren’t the only thing that matters, its how the strands coexist with each other, Curly hair strands coexist by piling up on top each other.

moisture also effects hair texture too, different hair types absorbs moisture differently, thus the thickness of each hair type is different. 

…..soooo, how does this all relate to how to draw 4c hair?? 

Well let’s take a look at the drawing below. Notice how the arrows go outward more as the hair texture gets curlier. As we’ve already discussed, this is because hair piles up, The curlier the hair texture, the more it piles up on each other, the bigger it gets, the more outward the arrows go.

Out of any hair texture, 4C hair has the most curls. Because of this, the hair piles up on each other so much that it doesn’t lie down flat like straight hair, nor does it make a trapezoid like shape like curly hair, it instead becomes more cloud like.❤️

This is what you need to take into account when it comes to drawing 4C hair.

Think of it as piling up a bunch of cotton balls on each other. The most cotton on top of top to lead to a bigger patch of  cotton. this is 4c hair.

How to not draw 4c hair:

Garnet fanart. Let’s talk about Garnet Fanart. I notice a trend that when artists draw Garnet from Steven universe, her hair texture is usually changed to 3 type curly like texture. This subtle form of White washing has confused me because this is inaccurate. 

Garnet’s hair is in the shape of a cube. Though 3 type hair piles up on each other, it isn’t curly nor thick enough for their hair to stay in the shape of a cube. Curly hair lies down more than 4c hair. So garnet’s hair being in the shape of a cube is a dead giveaway that it is 4C. Why do you think hairstyles like flat tops are usually seen on black men with 4c hair? It’s because, the 4c hair texture is thick and strong enough to stay in whatever shape you put it in.

please, if you’re drawing a character with 4c hair, avoid drawing it like curly 3 type hair, this is very anti-black and texturist.

So, how do you draw 4c hair?

honestly, its the most easy thing in the world

i wanna clarify that blobby looking 4c drawings ( like the one on the top left ) can work depending on how cartoony your art style is.

Another thing that I want to greatly clarify when it comes to drawing 4C hair is, YOU. DONT. NEED. TO. DRAW. EVERY. HAIR. STRAND!…..like, seriously. I’ve gotten many messages about how 4C hair is hard to draw, and it’s always left me confused; but then I find out that the same people that have trouble drawing 4C hair, attempt to draw every single strand of hair. This is unnecessarily time consuming because it’s merely impossible to get every single detail down, especially when you have a simple cartoon style. 4C hair does not require much effort, all you’re doing is drawing lumps. It’s that simple, nothing more nor nothing less.

The reason why I greatly advise all of you to avoid drawing every single hair strand is because in real life, when you look at a 4C textured Afro, your eyes don’t pick up on each individual hair strand like straight or curly hair. 4C hair, appears to be more undefined and cloud like, so attempting to draw each and every individual strand is unnecessary and will most likely end up looking inaccurate.

Anyways! that’s it for now! there will be a part 2 to this tutorial that will come out next week! i hope you guys have learned from this and apply it to your black character in your art!~

skin color ref because some of yall non-black poc and whites keep fucking up as if yall don’t know there’s other shades of brown when u racebend for woke points or something 

(non-black artists please reblog)

Please reblog regardless of your race/ethnicity.

heres a chart I made for myself showing diffrent undertones and how that affects the skin if anyone’s intrested

Use this to make a skin palette in your art program!

Also! This photography project by Angélica Dass has thousands of photos of people, with a Pantone color assigned to each! It’s very helpful as a resource !!

And some examples of the project!

black history month is coming to a closeeee but i have something that’ll help you draw black characters in any month! if it was helpful then hey… here’s my kofi 😏

Little quick and light kimono tutorial because I’m noticing a trend of weird things non-Japanese people do with them.

Bathrobes =/= Kimonos

Kimonos aren’t sacred. They’re for everyone. Just practice drawing them, use tons of refs, be respectful, and have fun. There’s also tons of other types of traditional clothes you can mess around with. Research is your best friend

You know what’s some crazy $hit?

This fabulous bitch

She makes a shit ton of poses (like 16,000 or some crazy nonsense).  I used this lovely lady to draw so much as a teen.  Whether it was some nerdy pose for my Mary Sue as fuck OCs

or for full on fight sequences

or for tragic deaths of my OCs in the arms of a totally OOC main protagonist.  

this bitch hooked me up.  

And with the wildest, craziest stuff that you could see in your head but had no way or resources to reasonably draw like

or this

or this

DUDE!  INASNE SHIT!!  So I was using her for a pose reference and decided, you know what, I owe this bitch some cash.  Lemme dole it out for her.  BUT then, I looked and saw she only has 286 fucking patrons!!  This chick gives out free shit and spends countless hours arranging these shoots and setting this stuff up.  

I’ll fork up the cash, SenshiStock.  You’re worth it.  

Check out this amazing woman’s stuff, and get knowledged:  https://www.deviantart.com/senshistock

I have been following her for years on deviantart.

Highly reccomend checking her out. She’s the best. If I had any money to throw I’d throw it at her for providing such a big help in my life.

This hero doesn’t wear capes, she instead wears (and looks utterly flawless) in tank tops(?)

Interrupting my regular Star Wars BS to reblog this because @senshistock is amazing and beyond worth the follow and support!  I first started using her refs gosh I want to say back in maybe 2008, and I’m happy to be a supporter of her over on Patreon.  If you’re an artist please go find her stuff on all the platforms, you will not regret it!

Yessss, she is so awesome! Been following her for years. My favorite stock artist is jademacalla, who is, incidentally, in the last two images above. He has a lot of great angles, costumes, gear, etc! I love his hands, too.

rb to save an artists life

Just so everyone knows, she recently stopped using the name SenshiStock and switched to AdorkaStock! All her links and socials have switched to that. Also she has a TikTok of her doing the poses live, which is stupid useful because you can pause it at any point in the pose for just the right reference.

STARLIGHT AND STAR-CROSSED

Finally uploading my piece for @atla-secret-santa for @brightxyes-art❤ I really hope you like this and sorry for the small delay! It’s a soulmate Zukka AU with identifying marks😳

Words: 2775 | AO3 | Ko-Fi

Their mother was one of the few people Sokka had met in his life who still believed in soulmates. She used to say that the mark covering half of his face was a soulmate one, which meant that the person he was destined to love would have an identical one. It was an ugly thing — his mark — or that’s what most people seemed to believe. Sokka, on the other hand, loved it the way he loved himself: with hesitation and uncertainty — but it was love, still.

Keep reading

omg!!!!!!! this is amazing thank you so much!!!!

i think levi should have a split tongue

as requested- my zine about fat and plus size body types from instagram!💖 happy drawing everyone!

the "how to draw canes" guide is finished! i'm definitely not an expert, but i do have experience with using a few types of canes so i decided to draw this!! :]

please consider reblogging this! it took a lot of time to draw this and it may help out abled and disabled artists!!

[start id: seven digital drawings against a lined paper background. the first says: "how to draw canes: a how-to guide by venus, a disabled artist" with a drawing of venus, a white curly haired teen with glasses and a drawing of a purple foldable functional cane below. beside venus says "me" with an arrow pointing towards them and beside the cane says "elizabeth, my cane (she's a foldable functional grip".

the second image says: "the main four: there are a few more types than these, but here are the most common!" below is a drawing of a light grey "C" cane, red functional cane, blue offset handle cane, and a mint green quad cane. beside each type of cane is their name.

the third image says: "the 'c' cane: •most simple cane, •only used for slight assistance, •materials: wood, metal, or plastic" with a drawing of a grey "c" cane with two drawings of how to properly grip the cane. below the drawings are the words "hook hand under".

the fourth image says: "functional grip: •similar to 'c', •handle allows better control and support, •used for slightly more assistance than the 'c', •can be foldable, •materials: metal or wood" with a full drawing of a red functional cane with two small drawings of how to grip a functional cane.

the fifth image says: "offset handle: •j-shaped handle, •distributes body weight over the cane's shaft, •great for if you also have wrist problems, •materials: metal (wood??)" with a drawing of blue offset handle cane to the side with two drawings of how to properly grip the cane.

the sixth image says: "quad cane: •rectangle base, •large base = more support, •can stand up on its own, •materials: metal" with a drawing of a mint green quad cane to the side with two drawings of how to properly grip the cane.

the seventh image says: "tips: •get creative! canes can have cool patterns (ex: stripes, floral), •draw the cane in front of the character, not behind, •don't worry if it doesn't look right the first time. i draw canes constantly and they still don't look perfect, •and last but not least, have fun!". at the bottom of the drawing is a stick man smiling and giving a thumbs up. end id.]

i felt like there wasn’t enough polyam trio art memes so i decided to make my own <3 self indulgence be damned

( feel free to share and tag me in any of the cute art you make i would love to see!!! 🥺💕)

POLYAMOROUS RELATIONSHIP ARE AWESOME YA FUCKERS

That’s all I would like to say thank you very much :3

So many of you asked for a tutorial on how I paint faces/ add a light source, so here you go! 😍 Let me know if you guys have any feedback or if you want to try it yourself! 💜

introducing Dëk Zhùr! his name is Hän for Creek Wolf! hes my new waterbender sona :D i thought it would be cool to base his clothing off of the traditional clothes of my people, the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in (and i was right) i kept the main colour palette of the Water Tribe, but added a few others to really show off the clothes. hes from the Southern Water Tribe but is traveling around to learn about different styles of bending!